Seizure
by Mein Benutzername
Summary: You never know how you'll respond to a situation until you find yourself in the middle of it. Usually, it's terrifying. Written by A Humble Reader.
1. Chapter 1

Seizure

_A short tale based off of true events_

_Written by A Humble Reader_

_Note: This isn't made up. I just got off of work, and I needed some way to clear my head. This helped a lot. There isn't exactly very much here concerning the Transformers, at least not till the end. But this is how I cope. Thank you for reading, and please enjoy._

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><p>She couldn't move at all. All of her thoughts ground to a screeching halt the moment the word "seizure" processed in her brain. She just stood there, staring at the man lying on the floor. All of his friends, family members, all of the <em>bodies <em>surrounding him were saying things, and she heard them, but she still couldn't move.

"Oh my- "

"Listen to me! Roll him over! Come on guys, he just had a seizure-"

"Alright, that's it, get him on his side now-"

"- Yes, my friend just had a seizure. We're at a Chinese restaurant. The address? I'll ask someone-"

His eyes had rolled back up into his head. She had seen it. He wasn't shaking or anything, rather just lying still on the ground. And his eyes rolled up, and she could see the whites, and then the veins...Then he was rolled over, they were doing something.

She still couldn't move.

Suddenly, her coworker ran off. She realized he was going to get the address. But her boss was coming around the back right now. She had a pitcher of water in her hand, someone's drink in the other. She set them down and suddenly seemed to see everything.

She still couldn't move.

Suddenly the woman was right next to her, looking half confused, half angry, but still mostly concerned.

"Ah! What happened?" The woman asked.

She didn't say anything. She was looking for her to say something, she realized. She opened her mouth. It was as dry as a desert. Nothing resembling words or coherent speech came out. Just a muffled noise, as though someone had shoved cotton down her throat.

She didn't have to answer. One of the customers, one of the men helping, turned around.

Her boss repeated the question.

"It's alright." He told her. "He just had a seizure."

_He just had a seizure. It's alright. He just had a seizure._

The Chinese woman breathed the word "seizure" to herself quietly, bringing her hands to her face. She then moved them over her heart, and almost seemed to shake herself from a daze.

Her coworker that had left to get the address was back. He had given it to the man on his cellphone. Absently, she noticed it was red. Her eyes drifted back to the man on the floor. He was awake. He was trying to sit up, but they kept on pushing him back down.

"You need to sit down." They said. "You just had a seizure, you need to sit down."

_It's alright. He just had a seizure._

"Do you know where you are?" He was standing now, but his eyes were glassy. He looked like he wasn't really there at all.

"You need to sit down. Come on George, let's sit him down."

She still couldn't move.

Suddenly her boss was talking to her again. In the background she heard the man on the cellphone say something, he said the word sir.

"Come on." Her boss whispered. "Backu to werk. You go."

She could move again. Her eyes were glued on the man for a few more seconds until she slowly, mechanically, turned herself around to the table she had been wiping before it happened. She finished it up slowly, and then walked by the group again to get back to the front of the restaurant.

Her coworker hadn't moved. He was still hovering behind them all as they tended to the man, as though waiting for something.

She walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Get...back to work. Just...keep working."

He looked at her, and back to the group, and back to her, and nodded. He said something too, but it didn't register. She was already walking away, anyway.

_It's alright. He just had a seizure. It's alright. It's alright. It's alright._

She got back to work. She kept glancing at the back, and she wondered if he was going to be okay. The other large group that had been sitting in the back as well left quickly. The father had tried to help them when it happened, she remembered. She guessed he didn't want to be in the way when the paramedics came.

There were two more booths in the back with customers sitting in them. They didn't do anything besides stare. Then they went back to eating.

No one in the front noticed. Even though there was only a half wall and some decorative glass between them.

She kept working. Wiped more tables, picked upo more plates, got more drinks.

One woman in a booth close to the front asked what happened. She was talking about all of the people standing in the back.

"A man had a seizure." She told her, trying to keep the waver out of her voice. "And he fell out of his chair." The woman nodded.

"A seizure...thank you."

She nodded and then kept working.

Not long after that the paramedics came in. She could see the bright neon green ambulance sitting in the parking lot. The lights flashed in silent warning.

Men came in with bags, in simple gray clothing. They looked around, unsure where they were supposed to go.

She saw them right away. They were close to her. She made a noise and pointed immediately in the direction of the man and his group.

They had him sitting in a chair now. She couldn't see very well, but he looked confused.

The paramedics nodded and went over to help him.

Things started to blur together after that. She continued working. The people in the back filled out some information on a clipboard. She spoke a little to her coworkers, but none of it was about what happened. One of them left at one thirty, like he always did. He had been the one to get the address.

More paramedics came in. In and out. The man who had called 911 on his little red flip cellphone went outside. He came in again later. The paramedics had the seizure man hooked up to some machine, and it looked like they were taking his pulse.

She kept working.

_He just had a seizure. It's alright._

Suddenly a lot of the paramedics left. She was heading towards a table near the group with Tina. The paramedics came back in with a stretcher.

She and Tina scattered.

They made sure not to get in the way. They wheeled the man out. Most of the customers were gone at this point, anyway.

It looked like the cellphone man went with him. She didn't really see.

She wanted to ask one of the paramedics, or someone in the group if he would be okay. But she couldn't seem to do it.

_It's alright. He just had a seizure. It's alright._

She kept working.

Soon enough, the group sat down again and resumed eating. She could hear the laughter across the restaurant.

More customers trickled out.

She noticed that the cellphone man hadn't gone with his friend after all. Someone else must have, then.

More time passed. She kept working.

It was two o'clock. Work was over, the lunch buffet ended. Her boss told them that they were done; they could go and eat the leftovers on the buffet like usual.

She sat down at table one with Tina and Lauren. The talked a little. They mostly ate. The boss kept working. A few tables were still eating.

Finally, the big group in the back left.

Lauren left not long after. She waved and said goodbye.

She and Tina talked more.

Finally, she mentioned the man. She hoped he was okay.

"Yeah, he probably is. I mean, I've actually seen this before, someone having a seizure. But do you know what I can't believe? Nobody went with him! I mean, no one!"

"No one? But I thought..."

"Nope. It was only the paramedics and the stretcher. And then they didn't even leave! They just sat down and kept eating! I mean, seriously? At least take it to go, or something. I'd want someone to go with me. Imagine waking up alone in the hospital; with nobody there?"

She agreed. They talked about it a little more. She remembered the people laughing.

_It's alright. He just had a seizure._

She left earlier than she normally would have. She called her younger brother and told him to leave the card store. He wanted to stay and finish his tournament. She said no, she didn't feel good, sorry. He conceded.

She sat in the car, with some kind of Japanese music her older brother had left there playing. She turned the air conditioning way up and sat there, staring at nothing.

She didn't really feel that sick. The medicine from that morning had helped her symptoms. But she wanted to get home. She felt a twisting feeling in her stomach, but she didn't feel like she was going to throw up.

Her brother got in the car, and she greeted him, and apologized again. He said it was fine, he was loosing anyway.

They didn't talk anymore, she just started driving home.

He cut the music off halfway through to answer a phone call. For some reason his voice bothered her. She kept the last line of the music on repeat in her head, to distract herself from it.

They got home. They went inside. Her mother told them to get their sheets so she could wash them. She waited until her brother left and then told them what happened.

Suddenly she was crying, a whole lot. Her face was probably getting red and puffy, and she struggled to talk normally.

She didn't get the comfort she wanted from them. No hugs or anything. They told her it was alright, tried to soothe her and assure her that the man was probably fine. They told her to lay down, rest, have a good cry.

She nodded and went upstairs.

She shut the door behind her softly and dropped her bag on the floor.

Her eyes drifted to a red and blue toy sitting on her bed. She scanned the yellow robot on the nightstand, and the blue jet set near it (but not too close), before her eyes rested on the red and blue one again.

With a choked sob, she let herself cry more like she wanted to with her parents. She stumbled over to the bed and snatched up the toy, crying and sniffling.

"It was so scary." She said weakly. "It was so scary, Optimus. He had a seizure, and I didn't know what to do...no one went with him..."

_It's alright. He just had a seizure._

_It's alright._

_It's alright._

_It's not alright._

"It was scary..." She clutched him more fiercely in her arms. She imagined what he would say. His deep, booming voice telling her that it _would _be alright, even if it didn't feel like it would. Someone was there helping him. It was okay that she didn't know what to do - no one expected her to.

Sometimes bad things happened.

There were people who did their best to help fix them when they did.

She cared, and that was something important - the fact that she was so upset about it spoke volumes. She could help silently just by being concerned over his wellbeing.

Life would go on.

It will be alright.


	2. Chapter 2

Seizure

_Another short tale, based off of unfortunately true events...again._

_Written by A Humble Reader_

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><p><em>Note: It...it happened again. It was, again, incredibly terrifying. And <em>just_ like last time...I froze. I've started trying to learn how to handle the situation when someone beside you suddenly suffers from a seizure. If there is ever a third chapter (and let's hope there's not ever a need for one) then maybe that will be the time I manage to move._

_Done. _She put the pencil down and sighed. That...had been exhausting. But, four hours and twenty-five minutes later, she was done. ACT numero uno, complete. Out of the way. Finito. _Done. _

And, she finished all of the sections. _Hells yes. _Totally aced English and Reading, so-so on Math, Science...well, she was pretty sure she did okay on science. It took her a little bit, but she got the hang of the charts and graphs and how to read them. Mostly.

She laid down her pencil and took off her glasses and folded up her arms as a convenient pillow. Done with the essay, and five minutes to spare. She knew for a fact that she _had _to have aced that essay. There was no way she didn't!

The teacher called time so she sat up in her chair again, watching the woman with half-lidded eyes and a kind of satisfied contentment with how the test went. Her tummy was growling, though. If only she hadn't thrown away that muffin-

Her head shot to the right when she heard the clatter. As if in slow motion, the girl in the desk beside her fell out of her chair onto the floor.

It was quiet.

In the seconds before the teacher threw down her papers and moved to help the girl, it was silent. It seemed as though the world were holding its breath. And she noticed things.

She had fallen towards her, but was facing away from her. She was almost in a fetal position, and her feet were an ugly purple. Suddenly ragged breathing cut through the silence like a knife- her hair was splayed around her head like a messy brown halo, and her body shook lightly.

Time started moving again.

The teacher rushed over to her side and looked at her, shaking her shoulders lightly. Suddenly the girl was convulsing, but the only thing she did was think _it's happening again._

The teacher immediately backed off, looking lost. A few seconds later it stopped, and she hesitantly touched her shoulder again. Someone suggested they give her room, and the lady spread out her hands, urging the students to move their desks away.

She ran into the hall to get help from the other teachers, and eventually in there were three of them. One was in the hallway, and she could hear her voice drift in, calm and steady.

"...rk High School, yes. Yes, we were testing and she fell out of her chair; I was told they think she had a seizure. Of course, yes- the second floor, room 230. Yes, alright. Thank you. Yes, yes -"

The first teacher, the one that did her testing, was in front of the girl, talking to her, making sure she was okay. She knew her name, where she was...but underneath all of their words, it was silent.

She just watched. Stared, really. At one point, she had half gotten out of her seat, wanting to help...but she was frozen, rooted to the spot. One knee was in the chair, and her hand gripped the back fiercely while her other leg wobbled on the floor. She had even muttered that maybe they should call an ambulance...but they quickly took care of it.

She didn't even have her phone. She had left in the car, as per the rules.

Something cruel in the back of her mind whispered that she couldn't do anything to help even if she had tried..._and she hadn't even tried._

Amidst the chaos, some of the other teachers that had come in finished taking up the tests and students quickly filed out of the room.

She was one of the last to get up, and lingered near the doorway, watching the girl and the teacher, wanting to ask if she was gonna be okay. It was a pointless question, really; the teacher didn't know. Maybe she could do something to help?

And what would that be? Nothing. She'd just get in the way once the paramedics arrived. She watched silently (always so quiet - there wasn't even any chatter from the halls that was loud enough to reach the room) as another student came up and began talking to the victim.

"Do you know her?" The teacher asked him. The boy squatted down and tilted his head to look at her, a thoughtful frown on his face.

"Yeah, we have a lot of classes together." After a moment where he seemed to be thinking, he addressed the girl lying prone on the floor. "You'll be okay, don't worry." And he sent her the most disarming, heart-breaking smile she had ever seen in her life.

She felt something inside her chest squeeze, and break. Her stomach was in her throat. She felt like she might throw up. _She needed to get away from there._

Quickly, quietly, she left the room and stumbled her way down the steps. When she finally managed to escape the throng of bodies in the lobby to reach the front steps, she took a deep breath. She noticed someone from her school there, waiting for her ride home. Slowly, she wandered over.

They talked for a few moments, but suddenly there was the blare of sirens in the distance.

Her stomach performed an entire ballet.

She quickly explained to her friend (acquaintance, really; they only shared one class) about what had happened, and tried to keep the waver out of her voice. She then excused herself to leave and made to cross the parking lot. Before she could, however, an ambulance came screeching to a halt a few feet further down the sidewalk. She watched, quiet, as three men quickly hopped out, grabbed a large duffle bag, and hurried into the school.

Without a word, she turned away and made her way towards her car. Before she got there, however, her footsteps slowed and pattered to a stop. She was an arm's length away from a group of blondes wondering if there had been a fire in the building.

Not knowing what she was doing, or why she was doing it, she turned to face them.

"Uhm...someone had a seizure, at the end of testing. The teacher was taking up the tests. She just...fell over. She seemed okay though; she was talking when..." _When I left, ran away like a coward, ran as fast as I could as far away from that terrifying situation as possible I don't ever want to be in that place again- _"When I last saw her."

They gasped at the right times, made the appropriate remarks and worried comments.

She walked away and didn't say another word.

When she reached her car she stood there, fumbling for the keys, slowly getting more and more frustrated with herself. She stopped for a moment, and walked to the back of the car.

She chose to stare at the silver face decorating the door to the trunk, her keys dangling quietly in her hands. Finally, she unlocked the car and moved back to the front, stepping in and shutting the door softly.

Suddenly she was gripping the wheel, her knuckles white, her faced scrunched up and turning red and puffy with unshed tears.

"Treads." She whispered. Oh god. "It happened again. Remember last time? At work. It happened again." She made a strangled choking noise, her arms shaking and only just holding back the tears. Her eyes stared out the windshield, but she wasn't seeing anything.

"Look at me." She bit out. The statement was punctuated by a noisy sniffle, and she released her death grip on the steering wheel to wipe at her face with one hand. "I'm not even the one who had the _seizure, _Treads! But I just...I _left. _She had a seizure and I just _waltzed _out..." _I didn't try to help, didn't do _**anything**, _just sat there and stared as if it were some sort of show- _Finally the damn broke, and clear droplets marked paths down her cheeks.

After a few minutes of crying and guilty blubbering to her car, she regained her composure and patted the steering wheel fondly, still sniffling, and with her face still a little red.

"Thanks for listening, Treads. I needed it."

She drove home in silence, for the most part, occasionally making a remark or humming part of some song, but otherwise kept it together until she reached her house.

After closing the door, locking the car, and giving the Autobot symbol she had stuck on the back last Christmas a thankful, friendly pat, she headed inside to talk to her parents and then go and cuddle with her transformers to end her harrowing morning and get ahold of things again. Too many emotions, but if she had just one more good cry, she felt like she'd be on top of things again.

Only when it was _absolutely certain _that the girl had gone inside did Autobot Treads take the opportunity to sink down on his axels and release a short burst of static from his speakers in exasperation.

The poor kid seemed to have rotten luck. It wasn't any trouble for him to listen to her, (not that he really had a choice either way) since she didn't have breakdowns all that often. Pretty rare for her age group, actually. (Or so his sources said.) But it was certainly a lesson in patience. (And in trying to understand how squishies and their little organic proccesors worked.)

Only Primus knew why Optimus had assigned him to this little family of troublemakers, and only _Unicron _knew how much trouble they _really _got up to, but he supposed, if asked, he'd have to say it was all worth it. His little squishy, he thought, must of been one of kind.

...And if Sides ever heard about him letting the little organic cry her eyes out in his interior, he was never going to hear the end of it.

Honing his scanners in on her bedroom again, Treads listened to the soft sniffles and a quiet "It was horrible..." That was quickly followed by more of the same blubbering he'd received on the drive home.

...Maybe he could deal with a little embarrassment, just this once.

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><p><em>Note: Yeah. So...I needed some way to tie it into Transformers again, and I didn't cry at Optimus (as much) this time around, but I did have a bit of trouble on the way home. Now, my car isn't really an Autobot (as far as I'm aware) but he's certainly a useful sounding board for emotions and fun ideas. Thanks for reading. Hopefully, you won't be hearing from this story again.<em>

_Sincerely yours,_

_A Humble Reader._


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